NEW YORK (AP) -- The mayor railed against gun violence on Friday, one day after a street peddler died in a shootout with police outside a hotel in bustling Times Square.

Raymond Martinez, 25, was killed by a plainclothes police sergeant Thursday after trading gunfire in an area crowded with tourists and holiday shoppers.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg was asked about the shooting while appearing at a Manhattan charity event and used the chance to discuss one of his signature issues - illegal firearms and gun violence in New York and other big cities.

"We've got to stop this," Bloomberg said. "This is one of the great public health threats. And our police officers are clearly in danger."

In many states across the United States, it's getting easier to carry a gun -- and many say it's the result of a campaign by the National Rifle Association.

A nationwide review by The Associated Press found that over the last two years, 24 states, mostly in the South and West, have passed 47 new laws loosening gun restrictions.

Among other things, legislatures have allowed firearms to be carried in cars, made it illegal to ask job candidates whether they own a gun, and expanded agreements that make permits to carry handguns in one state valid in another.

[...] But the staffers and a deputy sheriff also discovered that someone had removed the bedroom door from its hinges and replaced it with a 5-by-4-foot piece of plywood affixed to the frame and the drywall with hinges and screws, the arrest report said. The door had two locks attached fromthe bedroom side and a circular hole padded with duct tape. The deputy noted in the arrest report that the hole appeared to be used "in some sort of sexual act." [END]

He was collecting hits on his teabags was he?

The Snooper Report. Join us as we Take Our Country Back.Sic vis pacem para bellumFight Accordingly

You are free to share, to copy, distribute and transmit the work to remix, to adapt the work under the following conditions: Attribution. You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). For any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to others the license terms of this work. The best way to do this is with a link to this web page. Any of the above conditions can be waived if you get permission from the copyright holder. Nothing in this license impairs or restricts the author's moral rights.
''